Home » Audio » General » Audio file format (wav, mp3, flac, wma???)
Audio file format [message #66414] Tue, 01 March 2011 09:19 Go to next message
SoundCheck is currently offline  SoundCheck
Messages: 15
Registered: February 2011
Chancellor
I want to rip some CD's. There are several audio formats in which I can save the files such as wav, wma, mp3, flac, etc, and I'm not well-versed in these name extensions. I hope to hear some opinions on which format is the best or which one you recommend. Thanks in advance. Smile
Re: Audio file format [message #66419 is a reply to message #66414] Tue, 01 March 2011 12:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Use Exact Audio Copy to make the wav files.

http://Exactaudiocopy.de

Use Lame MP3 to make the MP3 files:

Attached is a copy of my RazorLame folder. YOU MUST GO TO OPTIONS AND TELL IT THE DIRECTORY OF LAME.EXE, WHICH IS IN THE FOLDER. The settings are already optimized for perfection. You can change the bit-rate in "Lame options" but I advise against it.


Enjoy.
  • Attachment: RazorLame.zip
    (Size: 639.54KB, Downloaded 253 times)


Re: Audio file format [message #66431 is a reply to message #66419] Wed, 02 March 2011 00:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
SoundCheck is currently offline  SoundCheck
Messages: 15
Registered: February 2011
Chancellor
Thanks a lot for this program/software...Extracting audio tracks with quality output will become a lot easier for me...I'm scanning through its features and I hope that in a while, I'll be already copying audio tracks... Smile
Re: Audio file format [message #66444 is a reply to message #66414] Wed, 02 March 2011 19:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GuitarStrings is currently offline  GuitarStrings
Messages: 45
Registered: December 2010
Location: Ohio
Baron
I prefer using whatever works for my iPod...which doesn't seem to be a lot. Aim for .mp3 or .wma. The only problem with .wma is the fact that other computer music players normally can't play them, so it's totally up to you as to what you prefer.

The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.
Jimi Hendrix


Re: Audio file format [message #66451 is a reply to message #66414] Wed, 02 March 2011 21:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Shane is currently offline  Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
I use EAC like Adveser. Only I compress my files to flac to save some hardrive space. If I need to make a copy of a CD later I extract back to wav files to burn.
Re: Audio file format [message #66452 is a reply to message #66414] Wed, 02 March 2011 21:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GoodVibrations is currently offline  GoodVibrations
Messages: 75
Registered: November 2010
Location: TX
Viscount
I thought only wma would work in a CD player, such as in the car. Is this true, or will other formats also work? I know my MP3 player will play wma and MP3 formats, but I haven't tried anything else yet.

Music is a tonic for the tired and weary mind
Re: Audio file format [message #66505 is a reply to message #66452] Sat, 05 March 2011 05:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
SoundCheck is currently offline  SoundCheck
Messages: 15
Registered: February 2011
Chancellor
I tried to do a little research about this one, but it was kinda difficult to digest. Very Happy Here is what I gathered, in a nutshell: WMA is a common format that works on many audio players including VLC player, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, and Winamp. Old stereo systems may not read this format because they are designed to handle CDA format (format for music CD's)...but certain players and stereo systems are now catching up in terms of the file formats that they can handle. Razz
Re: Audio file format [message #66929 is a reply to message #66452] Wed, 06 April 2011 22:10 Go to previous message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
GoodVibrations wrote on Wed, 02 March 2011 19:57
I thought only wma would work in a CD player, such as in the car. Is this true, or will other formats also work? I know my MP3 player will play wma and MP3 formats, but I haven't tried anything else yet.


I think that was the marketing from MS. Basically they used to claim that you could burn CD's using WMP from WMA files. Obviously, they were converting them to Wav, then indexing them to CDA. I don't recall them ever claiming you could use someone else's software to burn WMA directly to disc for playback on a CD. Granted I have seen WMA supported in some players, more than likely a DVD player because those have to have more flexibility to play all the weird codecs people use in videos.

I'm in the same ballpark as Shane now. I was very unhappy with what I saw when I looked at a F Analyser comparing MP3 to FLAC. Once I did some testing and figured out that not only does FLAC work with everything else I do, but it does some non-audio things better, like tagging faster.

I've basically been depressed and very unhappy with music for the last few years I was listening to MP3s. I hadn't gotten into very many "new" albums and had a hard time listening to stuff I had originally heard on CD. After listening to the FLAC rips, I can say the reason behind all of it was the MP3's. I've been pretty much listening to music for at least 6 hours a day since. I noticed when listening to a beat and worn cassette that it had something there I was missing, regardless of how bad it sounded. I slowly pieced things together and gave it a shot.

I'm of the opinion right now that you can't even talk about high quality if you are using lossy compressed files. Your amp, speakers, DAC, Sound Card, drivers, speakers...they might as well be complete junk running MP3. You are throwing away your money until you go lossless.

Here is a photo of the comparison. YES you can hear the difference.

http://adveser.webs.com/photos/untitled.jpg


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